Lilly of the Rings
by ShortAtntionSpaz
Summary: It was all a misunderstanding... Lilly thought he was an actor, paid to be Aragorn and harass her... then she found her way to his world.
1. Definate change in plans

A/N: This is my first attempt at a Lord of the Rings story… This should prove to be interesting… MANY THANKS TO KATIE!!! She's my beta reader, she can read dwarvish runes. Katie is my hero!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Lord of the Rings… in fact, I don't own anything but a collection of duct tape clothing, and some student loans…

Waves hi to Kennyon and Sami

_Blissful slumber. Oh, how I love thee!_ Lilly smiled as she just started to wake up. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. No work, just a free day to do whatever she wanted to. She heard a faint noise, and still groggy, started to open her eyes to see what it was. She gasped and sat up. There was someone in her room, and whoever he was, had a sword, and it was pointed at her. She scurried as far back against the wall, as far away from the sharp point of the blade as possible.

"What manner of trickery is this?" the stranger asked, the intensity in his eyes never wavering. He, oddly enough, was wearing some sort of armor, and had dark brown hair that hung down to his chin. He was in some sort of battle stance, like he was about to be attacked.

"I don't... what are you talking about?" Lilly stammered, thinking that the man before her looked familiar.

"What is this place, and what is the magic it holds me with?" He demanded, his eye contact still, intensely held.

"What are you doing in my house? Who are you?" Lilly demanded, her eyes darting around the room, looking for any escape, or weapon she could use against the man.

"I know not why I am here, or how it is that I have arrived... I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Most call me Strider." He stated.

"What?" she protested. _Wait, where do I know that name from?_ she asked herself, looking at him more closely. Her eyes flicked over to the small tv/vcr that was at the foot of her bed, and the Lord of the Rings movie box that sat propped against a small stack of movies on the table that held the tv.

She narrowed her eyes at him, and said, "You can put your sword down, I'm not going to hurt you." She figured her friends had put some actor up to this. And if that was so, he did a great job with the makeup, he looked seamlessly like the real thing.

He nodded at her, and slipped his weapon back into its sheath hanging at his side.

Lilly stood next to her bed, and looked up at the man again, and picked up her movie box, and compared the pictures.

He looked at her like she was crazy. Never in his life had he seen a woman so interestingly dressed. She was wearing pants, for one thing, and they did not look like they would be insulated against any sort of weather. That, and they had funny drawings of animals on them. He had never seen anyone in a tunic the likes of this one.

"Mr. Strider, can I get you to wait outside the room so I can change out of my pajamas? Then we can have our conversation." She asked him, tossing the movie box onto her bed, and opening her bedroom door.

He nodded wordlessly, and stepped out into the hallway. "I shall wait here " he informed her, leaning on the wall.

_I **must** be dreaming_ Lilly whispered to herself, shaking her head as she dug through her clothes for something to wear. _My friends are such dorks! I suppose I'll play along._ she smiled as she gathered her clothes. Pulling back the curtain from the window, she noticed a few menacing clouds in the sky, so she opted for thick denim jeans, and a long sleeved shirt, topped off with her favorite hoodie. After putting her curly brown hair back into a ponytail, and pulling on her shoes, she opened the door, expecting the stranger to have disappeared into thin air. He was still there though, and he was watching her, waiting for her to say something.

"Um... Ya hungry? I'm gonna get some breakfast." She said, motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen.

She rummaged through the fridge, and pulled out a measuring bowl that contained leftover pancake batter from the night before. One of the perks of living alone was that you could have pancakes whenever you wanted to, and no one could tell you no. Lilly lived in her little house by herself, and truly enjoyed the freedom of eating breakfast at dinner time. Lilly was a free spirit, and had been itching to move out on her own since she was twelve. She finally had the chance five months ago, when her boss gave her a raise. She had worked there for a year, and they really liked her. It was a relatively large Chiropractor's office, and she worked as a masseuse. It had killed her that she had to live in her parent's basement until she was 19.

"Please, sit down." she offered to Strider as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen/ dining room.

"What is this place?" he asked her, looking all around the kitchen as he walked over to the table and sat in a chair.

"It's my kitchen." She informed him with a shake of her head. _He really is a good actor..._ she thought to herself as she pulled the correct pan from the cupboard.

"Aren't you uncomfortable in that getup? I mean, no one wears that kind of thing." she stated.

"I could ask the same of you." He said with conviction. "Never in all my days have I seen a woman dressed in such things."

"What are you talking about? If you walk anywhere around here, you see tons of women dressed like this!" She said as she flipped a pancake over in the skillet.

"What is that you are doing?" he asked, walking over to the stove.

"Cooking pancakes." She said

He reached his hand out to touch the stove, and she shrieked at him, "Don't touch that, it'll burn you!"

He pulled his hand away, and looked at her with a questioning look.

"It's like fire!" She said, exasperated. _This acting thing is going too far! What an idiot._

He held his hand out, and hovered it over the burner, feeling the heat. "Where did you learn your magic?" he asked, astounded.

"It's not magic at all! Now, open that cupboard right there, and get me a plate."

He did as he was told, fingering the daisy printed design around the outside of it before passing it to her.

Using her spatula, she flipped the pancake onto the plate, spooned a chunk of butter onto it from the container next to her on the counter, and handed it to him. As she poured some more batter on the hot skillet, she told him, silverware's in the top drawer, and the syrup's on the table, go ahead and eat, you don't have to wait for me."

He looked strangely at the plate, and did as he was told, grabbing a fork and sitting down at the table. Since her back was to him, she wasn't watching, so he leaned over the plate, and sniffed the food. He had seen different breads, but none just like this one. Using his fork, he swirled the melting butter around the pancake. The Syrup was sitting right in front of him, and since there was a picture of pancakes on the front of it, smothered in syrup, he drizzled a little bit in one spot, and cut out a bite with his fork. Finding it to his liking, he poured enough on to cover his food.

Since the skillet was already hot, it didn't take Lilly too long to get her own plate ready, and she sat down next to him.

"Geez, you hungry or something?" she asked him as he was eating as fast as he could.

"I'm not hungry, I'm starving." he stated, before filling his mouth again.

With a laugh, she poured the syrup on her own pancake, and started eating.

As they sat in silence while they both ate, Lilly studied the stranger. She didn't notice it before, but the man looked... tired. His hair was greasy, and his hands, face, and clothing were dirty. She didn't know when the last time he had eaten was, but she guessed it had been awhile. She suddenly got an uneasy feeling that he really hadn't done any serious eating in a long time.

After she had sat down, he had slowed his eating, so that he would not be finished before she had made a noticeable dent in hers.

"Would you like something to drink? I have milk or water." she asked him.

"Milk, if it isn't any trouble." he said in between bites.

Shaking her head, she said "It's no trouble at all." as she grabbed 2 glasses out of the cupboard and the milk from the fridge, and filled the glasses to the top.

He drank deeply, and drained half the glass in one gulp, before setting it back on the table.

After they had both finished their first pancakes, she made one more, for each of them. They were thick and fluffy, cooked to perfection, which was the way Lilly liked them.

"When was the last time you have eaten a real meal?" she asked him.

"My companions and I have been traveling for many days, and our food was lost a fortnight ago in the river that we crossed."

"A fortnight? Dude, that's two weeks!" She exclaimed. "You haven't eaten in two weeks?" _Awww, he's homeless... and him and his friends are starving!_

"We have scrounged for what little edible vegetation we could find, we were not completely without food." he defended. "And what is 'dude'?"

"Dude is kinda like saying 'hey'" she quickly explained as she stood up and started opening cupboards and the fridge, setting things on the counter. "Tell me about your companions."

"Ah, one of normal height, one of medium sized height, and two little'uns."Strider stated, trying to be vague.

_Awww, they have children with them!_ She thought as she gathered some food together. "I'll put together a care package for you."

"Thank you for your kindness, but I don't think that's necessary." he said, shaking his head.

"I have plenty, I'll even get a bag to put it all in." She said, walking over to the coat closet in the living room. She grabbed her old school backpack, and filled it to capacity with as many non-perishable foods as she could fit in there, and a can opener for the cans of soup.

Looking at her watch, Lilly said, "Oh, I have some errands to run, we better leave." she said quickly, putting their plates in the sink, and grabbing her coat from the closet.

"Where am I supposed to go? I don't know where I am!" He stated.

"Here" she said, handing him the backpack laden with food. "Don't worry, everything will all be fine." She said, with plans to take him to a homeless shelter to talk to someone.

She grabbed her beanie cap, keys and purse from the table next to the door, and opened the door, and ushered him out. She followed him, and closed the door, and slid her key into the lock.

She looked over her shoulder at him, and gasped. Her front yard was gone. It looked like the forest had swallowed it! Before she had realized that she was leaning on her keys in the lock, her arm fell, and she almost lost her balance. She looked back at her door, and screamed. Her house was gone, and was replaced by a clearing in the woods.

"Ah, _now_ I know where I'm at!" Strider commented, looking around him.

"AAAUUUGGGHHHH!!!" Lilly screamed when reality set in. "I'm lost!"

"What?" Strider said, turning around. "Strange... " He commented.

"I suppose this means you're going with me. Come, let's go find my comrades." he urged.

Her eyes still wide with shock, she nodded. Dropping her keys into her purse, she followed. Before too long, they came upon another clearing with a large boulder sitting in the middle of it. Around the boulder sat a few packs and blankets, and on the boulder sat a dwarf with a reddish brown beard, and a helmet on. He was polishing his battle axe with a rag.

The dwarf looked up at the sound of footsteps, and asked, with a puzzled expression, "Where 'ave you been? Who's this?"

"There is a strong magic in these woods that I know nothing about. I know not who controls it. We should break camp and leave immediately."

"What happened?" questioned a voice above their heads.

Before Lilly could ask Strider who that was, a form landed beside her in a crouched position soundlessly on the grass. He straightened, and Lilly was looking into the eyes of a tall, willowy elf with long blonde hair.

"ACK!!! You scared me!" Lilly exclaimed

"My apologies." Legolas said, before turning to Strider. "What is this strong magic you speak of?"

"I'm not sure, but it's pressing that we leave" Strider started, before slipping into the elvish language, and walked away with Legolas.

"Blast those halflings and their messy habits!" Gimli grumbled, putting everything back in his pack .

Two short stocky forms jumped out of the woods, "You called?"

"Clean your mess, we're leaving!" Gimli ordered.

"It looks as if we're going without second breakfast again, Pip"

"Pippin, Merry, hurry, we have to leave quickly!" prompted Gimli.

"Who're you?" Merry asked, looking at Lilly.

"Um, I'm Lilly… I don't know where I am…" she said, still confused.

Both hobbits rushed over to her, "Don't worry, I'll take care of you!" insisted Pippin.

"No, I will!" argued Merry.

"But I saw her first, it's my responsibility!" said Pippin, nodding his head.

"Since when has either of you been concerned about responsibility?" Gimli asked, before he pointed to their pile of belongings. "Now get your things together, do you want them to be left behind?"


	2. Promises, and an Attack

A/N: Shoutouts!

Pyro: you forgot to review.

InsaneElvenPirate: -blinks at screen name- um. that has quite a similarity to something I came up with... Awhile ago, I decided that I wanted to be a pirate when I grow up, and marry a hobbit, and we'd sail the seven seas in a ship painted green with flowers like the shire, and lure other ships that thought we were an island, and capture them! Well, I guess that would be more of an insane hobbit pirate kind of thing... maybe we should start an alliance or something someday.

Pam: I agree, what a wonderful thing to wake up to every morning! Thanks. I like Gimli and the hobbits too!

Hippy Hobbit: Does your name refer to the fact that you are a hippie, or have hips, or does it have something to do with hip, hip, hizzah! Or something like that....

Freak and Proud: I'm glad that you think it's pretty bloody good. You know, I rarely ever have anyone actually use the word "bloody" in coversation with me. It makes me laugh... which may have something to do with the fact that I rarely ever have anyone say it to me...

* * *

The small entourage made their way through the forest, with Lilly walking in between the two hobbits.

"And Strider, Legolas, and Gimli came to visit us at the shire, and we decided that we needed another adventure!" Nodded Pip

Lilly nodded. "So one adventure is never enough?"

"We're going to find Frodo. We need to see our old friend."

"You do know where you are going, right?" Lilly asked her new friends.

"Nope." Stated Merry.

"Not an inkling." Added Pippin with a shake of his head that made his curly hair fly.

"Legolas does though." Merry said, his head bobbing up and down to emphasize his statement.

"Do you even know what you are in for? Or are you just along for the ride?" Lilly asked, stepping over a tree root.

"Well, it can't be any more dangerous than the last adventure that we had…" Pippin reasoned.

"That's true." Merry agreed, "After facing the ultimate evil, I suppose it's safer to do just about anything."

"Except swimming." Pippin smiled, "We can't swim."

"Hasn't anyone ever tried to teach you?" asked Lilly.

"None of the hobbits I am acquainted with know how to swim, most of them are afraid of water, and don't bother with learning. And there aren't too many out there that thinks of hobbits as worthy enough to teach anything." Pippin said thoughtfully.

"Well, I can teach you, I guess. That is, if we find a suitable place and time." Lilly said with a shrug.

As they were walking, Lilly, Pippin and Merry fell slightly behind. Not anticipating this, the rest of the group didn't notice until they heard Lilly scream.

Strider, Legolas, and Gimli rushed back to find Merry, Pippin, and Lilly each struggling to break the hold of a different man that tried to attack them.

As the trio burst through the brush to save them, the three thugs turned, shielding their bodies with their captives to keep Legolas's arrow pointed away from them.

The man holding Lilly had a dagger clenched in his fist, holding it to Lilly's throat.

Gimli fingered his axe, ready to throw it, but "Stay back!" the snarling man warned them.

Pippin latched his teeth into his captor's arm, and the man yelled and dropped him. As soon as the hobbit hit the ground, the man had an arrow embedded in his chest. Since Merry was being held the closest to him, Pippin started kicking Merry's captor in the shins.

Since the man had seen what had happened to his friend when he dropped his "shield", the burly man grimaced, from Merry's teeth embedded in his arm, and Pippin's kicks, and tried to knock Pippin over while keeping Merry in between himself and Legolas.

Jumping back up after he was kicked aside, Pippin unsheathed his minute sword, and slashed into the man's leg, and he finally let go. As Merry dropped to the ground, he felt an arrow whiz by his ear. Turning to look, he saw the man's blood spilling onto the grass, and an arrow still quivering as it protruded from his forehead.

"I'm warning you, stay away from me." The last man shouted over Lilly's shoulder, gripping the handle of his dagger better. "If you come any closer, she _will _die." He warned.

Backing away with their hands up in defeat, the hobbits carefully stepped over to where their friends were standing, careful to stay out of Legolas's line of fire.

Before anyone else could think of what to do, Lilly wrapped her ankle around the man's, and kicked his feet out from under him, and pulled the knife wielding arm out of her way. As he hit the ground, Lilly jumped to the side, and stumbled away, tripping on a tree root, and skinning her hand on a rough tree trunk. She heard the twang of Legolas's bow, but looked over her shoulder to make sure that she was safe from the fallen man.

Seeing his crumpled form, and the blood coming from the hole through his chest, she cringed, looked away, and scurried to her feet. Trembling, she rushed over to where her new friends were standing, and looked at them with a terror-stricken expression, her eyes wide, and her mouth half open, as if she were ready to say something, but her voice wouldn't work.

"Lassie?" Gimli asked, "How are you faring?"

Blinking her eyes, she put her hands to her throat, making sure that it was still whole, then she held her hands out, and turned them around, checking her arms out. Finding nothing serious, only a cut on the palm of her left hand from falling. "I… I'll live, I think."

"You're bleeding." Pippin stated, walking to her and taking her hand in his to examine the shallow cut.

Looking down at him, she pushed a clump of blood soaked curls off of his forehead, and laughed, "Well, so are you, and you're bleeding more than I am!"

Putting his hand up to his head, he found the cut, and grimaced. "Oh, that I am." He said as he tried to wipe away the blood that was running down his hairline at the side of his forehead.

After Legolas patched up Pippin's head, and Lilly's hand, they set out again, leaving the three fallen thugs in the thick brush a ways off of the path.

"Where did you learn how to kick his legs out from under him like that?" Gimli asked Lilly, who was now safely in the middle of the group, rather than straggling behind.

"Um, I took a self defense class after I was mugged once." She explained.

"What's mugged?" The dwarf asked quizzically.

"Well, someone attacked me and tried to steal my bag." She said.

"Oh, I see… Did they teach you in this class the fine art of fighting with an axe?" he said brandishing his war axe.

"No… If I were to carry an axe around my hometown, I would have gotten in trouble, we're not allowed weapons."

"You don't know how to use a weapon?" He asked, astounded. "Why, where I come from all the women are proficient fighters!

Legolas walked past Gimi, and said with a grin, "Where you come from, women have beards!"

"Watch it, Elf!" he threatened, shaking his fist at Legolas.

"I just know how to kick someone's legs from under them, and get a few punches in if I'm lucky."

"We shall have to remedy that." Gimli informed her.

"For real?" she asked, eagerly.

Not ever hearing that particular expression, but getting the gist of the meaning, he gave her a strange look, and said, "Yes. "

* * *

A/N: If you have reached this point in the story, and you do, indeed have a pulse, I would ask that you hit that button over there to the left, and send me a little review... or a long review, I love long reviews. I've written some extremely long ones myself. They are fun.


End file.
